Government

A look into the lawless practice of detaining American citizens upon their re-entry into the country, and as part of that detention, literally seizing their electronic products — laptops, cellphones, Blackberries and the like — copying and storing the data, and keeping that property for months on end, sometimes never returning it.

TSA chief John Pistole said Thursday the agency is looking at new technology such as scanner images that show passengers as “stick figures” and security methods used in Israeli airports as part of his pledge to make air travel “as minimally invasive as possible.”

Henrico County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney elected not to press charges against Charlottesville resident Aaron Tobey, 21, who made national news by stripping down to his shorts in the Richmond International Airport on December 30, revealing the words of the Fourth Amendment written on his bare chest.

That the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has saved a single life is unproven and doubtful. But it did something good for the country last fall by provoking a long overdue reaction against bureaucratic bullying.